15. And I went up in the night by the wadi, and examined the wall, and turned back, and entered by the Valley Gate, and returned.
16. And the deputy rulers did not know where I had gone nor what I had done. Nor had I yet informed the Yehuḏim, or the priests, or the nobles, or the deputy rulers, or the others who did the work.
17. Then I said to them, “You see the evil which we are in, how Yerushalayim lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Yerushalayim, and let us no longer be a reproach.”